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Level 1

15 points

Where is my memory? (How to clear "Documents and Data")

Recently, I have had some issues with the memory of my iPhone, where I get warnings that the memory is full or almost full.

I have had a look at settings>general>usage.

There are two things that strike me as odd:

-The first is that it tells me that 12.2 GB of space has been used, but when I total all the memory usage for all the apps, I only reach 6.8GB. Does the operating system really take up that much space? My initial guess would be that the capacity of the phone is 16GB, and that the 12.2 represents the remainng capacity after 3.8GB has been taken up by the OS.

-The second is that when I have a closer look at Podcasts, which is the app with by far the greatest memory useage at 3.7GB. It tells me that 933MB are taken up by podcasts, and it then shows how much space is taken by each of my podcasts. But then, at the bottom, it says "Documents and data: 2.8GB". What are these documents and data? Presumably, they are not the podcast episodes themselves, as those should be what are listed in the 933MB..

Any advice on any of these issues would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know what model iphone I have, it says "Model A1457" on the back. It was purchased some time in 2014.

It seems the operating system is 8.0.2 (if that is what the "version" in the "about" section of settings talks about).

Posted on Feb 9, 2015 3:47 AM

Best reply

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Posted on May 2, 2017 10:50 AM

bodkast wrote:

Thanks. There is another Battery Doctor, made by Ignis America, which also does not help disk space. It reduces, but only by about 25 to 50mb each time.

Currently my Apple podcast app, under 'Documents & Data' (which cannot be accessed to delete, nor can the app itself be deleted) is taking up 6.2gb of a 16gb phone.
***...? Thanks Apple. Any solutions, please post them here - if you care at all.

This is a user forum & Apple rarely respond here (normally in the form of 'Community managers'). You can wait forever for an answer or you can post to Apple directly…

https://ssl.apple.com/feedback/

Or ask for help at a store or via the main support page.

The answer has been posted numerous times but many choose to ignore it because it requires time. Backup, erase & restore the backup. Cached data is not restored via backups. I would disable all podcast feeds before backing up to prevent it downloading again after restoring.

These third party apps are simply trying to trigger the cache to clear by requesting device space. Eventually it can work but if something takes 10-30 attempts to do something I don't consider that a valid solution. The apps appear to bend the app store guidelines & eventually get banned from the store too.

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75 replies

Apr 18, 2016 6:42 AM in response to SarahMicheleF

SarahMicheleF wrote:

The KS Mobile "Battery Doctor" app appears to be a thing of the past...

Thank goodness! It was an app that caused countless users grief in the poor quality of its reporting, finding non-existent apps, and incorrect battery information.

Apr 19, 2016 11:15 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

I tried restoring from icloud once already, but the problem returned as well. Anybody find a solution other than starting a brand new copy and not restoring? That seems to be the only solution for some people like me, but that seems ridiculous.

Apr 19, 2016 11:47 AM in response to Seattle Ethan

Ok, I deleted OneNote app (from Microsoft), deleted mailboxes, imessages, weChat and podcasts contents (app cannot be deleted), then rebooted, then synced with my itunes in MBP several times. It reduced documents and data from 39.5 gig to 2.4 gig. I have a whopping 38 gig or free space now. Hopefully, it will remain that way.

My chief suspect in hindsight is OneNote (based on hunch) and Podcasts (based on other users from this forum). I'm guessing podcast contents take up documents and data, which when you delete in iphone, they still remain on your iphone, which is why you have to reboot iphone and/or sync with itunes.

KEBinKC

Level 1

4 points

Apr 22, 2016 6:00 AM in response to dr_bab

Too bad this option no longer exists. It is a really BAD product/software that Apple created that shows 52 GB of memory used, when only 10 of that is specified in the "Storage" details and I can find no way to fix this without a heck of a lot of work and potential lost information. They need a cache clearing tool if they are too unfocused to fix the fault in the iOS that allows things to stay after being used.

Apr 22, 2016 9:17 AM in response to KEBinKC

I agree there seems to be a flaw in the podcast app. I cleard all the subscriptions and podcasts from the app. Storage still shows as 963 G on my iPhone and 2.2 G on my iPad.

dibags

Level 1

4 points

May 17, 2016 7:46 AM in response to sonny3301

Thanks for the Battery Doctor tip! It took me about 6 or 7 attempts but I got my Podcasts Documents & Data down from 1.1 gb to 119 mb. Plus it managed to release another 1.1gb from somewhere too 🙂

May 22, 2016 2:00 PM in response to dr_bab

The solution presented by sonny3301 had it's mysteries but in fact WORKED OUT (Thank you very much!) for me without needing of Reset / Backup / Restore even sync with a desktop PC. I found the app on Brazilian Apps Store as:

Battery Doctor - Master of Battery Maintenance

Vendor/Developer: Beijing Kingsoft Internet Security software Co.Ltd

Category: Utilities

Last update: 31 oct 2015

Version: 7.3

Dev. website: ijinshan.com

However, it takes me more than 60 times to free almost 12gb of my iPhone! I was almost giving up.... The Documents and Data section of the Podcast App had 8.1GB and now has only 309mb. Quite a relief!

As part of solution I'm going to delete all my existing podcasts and subscriptions and begin to use the Overcast App. Let's see if it's a valid long term solution (and shame on you Apple).

May 22, 2016 2:20 PM in response to dibags

Thanks for this. Battery Doctor KS did not seem be in the store a month or so back but following your prompt I now found it as Battery Doctor Kingsof. It worked a treat clearing out the Podcast storage. Altogether it claimed back over 1.5 GB of storage.

Jul 12, 2016 6:16 AM in response to cammac2016

IT worked like a dream ,first junk clean up on my iphone 6 120gb memory. It showed only 10.8 gb available and now shows 93.9gb available. I dont know what was taking up the space in documents and data but this app cleared it.

THANK YOU!

Jul 21, 2016 10:35 AM in response to dr_bab

This is my third time with this issue. What'sapp is not my problem.

My least painful choice is to restore from ITUNES BACK UP BECAUSE ICLOUD BACK UP DOESN'T BACK UP TEXTS. The restore may take a few hours and many of my device settings must be redone.

I will bet you android is the same frustration. This is the price I pay for not having to walk to the mailbox to deliver mail (i use email) and other conveniences of smartphone.

In any case very aggravating the third time with this problem but I'm getting used to it.

At least, I know the "solution" and don't have to call them and hear them say, "I know how frustrating this must be" and "I never heard of this issue with false memory usage" or let me talk to a higher level tech or engineer

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Jul 21, 2016 1:20 PM in response to Apple falls far from old Apple

Apple falls far from old Apple wrote:

This is my third time with this issue…

I'd consider taking screenshots of your usage (Settings app > General > Usage > Manage Storage). Compare that to the same list after you erase & restore. You may find that the size change is related to a particular app. Keeping messages attachments will increase the usage, so be sure to see if the usage is reasonable before you erase.

It may be cache data that needs to be purged, however iOS doesn't offer any way to do that manually. So you may just need to fill the device to get it to be freed. I suspect that is what the Battery Doctor app mentioned here did as it fits with descriptions of other research into this issue.

I'd also suggest you password protect the backup in iTunes to keep all your passwords, just do not lose the password as you cannot reset or restore without it.

brito23

Level 1

4 points

Aug 11, 2016 12:46 PM in response to sonny3301

Thanks a lot work for my . I dont know what happened but I was 38 GB of cache.

Lekz1

Level 1

12 points

Oct 26, 2016 8:18 AM in response to sonny3301

Hi Sonny,

The app you talked about isn't available in the UK store, do you know if there is a UK alternative?

Luke

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Oct 26, 2016 9:56 AM in response to Lekz1

Read the post by cammac2016, the app appears in the UK store if you search 'Battery Doctor - Master of Battery Maintenance'. I have not installed the app as it appears to be little more than pointless adware with no English support.

Install it if you trust the app, the so called 'cleaning' does appear to be manipulating iOS features to clear data - if that was meant to work it would work first try, not after 30 or 60 attempts as other commenters mention. I don't know if that feature is still in the app.

steriana

Level 1

4 points

Nov 3, 2016 1:46 PM in response to sonny3301

I think this app is now (Nov. 2016) called Battery Saver (not Battery Doctor), and the author of the app is "lin tongtong". There are a lot of lookalikes, and the "Battery Doctor" app (from Beijing Kingsoft) does not help at all with disk space.

Where is my memory? (How to clear "Documents and Data")